Abstract
In order to conduct real-time quantitative monitoring of dust storms, Ka-band millimeter wave radar (MMWR) was utilized for the consecutive detection of dust storms over the Taklimakan Desert from April to June 2018. The retrievals of the reflectivity factor, dust spectrum distribution and dust mass concentration were carried out with the power spectrum data detected by MMWR for three dust storm processes. The analysis shows that: The probability density distribution of dust conforms to the lognormal distribution. During the dust storm processes, the effective detection height of the reflectivity factor was within 2000 m and the range of the reflectivity factors was between-25 dBZ and 25 dBZ. During the floating dust period, the effective height of the dust spectrum distribution was lower than 300 m and the values of dust mass concentration were less than 31.62 μg·m-3,at a height of 200 m. Furthermore, during the blowing sand stage, the effective height of the dust spectrum distribution was normally lower than 600 m and the values of dust mass concentration were mainly less than 316.23 μg·m-3,at a height of 200 m. During the dust storm period, the effective height of the dust spectrum distributionexceeded1000 m; when the height was 100 m, the values of dust mass concentration were between 1220 μg∙m-3 and 42,146 μg∙m-3 and the average mass concentration was 9287 μg·m-3; whereas, the values of dust mass concentration were between 2 μg∙m-3 and 820 μg∙m-3 when the height was 1200m and the average mass concentration was 24 μg∙m-3. The relationship between the reflectivity factor Z and the dust mass concentration M isdefined as Z=651.6M0.796. Compared with the observational data from Grimm180 particle detector, the data of the retrieved dust mass concentration are basically accurate and this retrieved method proves to be feasible. Thus, the MMWR cans be used as a new device for quantitative monitoring of dust storms.
Highlights
Dust storms are a disastrous natural phenomenon, which can cause serious damage to human habitats, including breaking down industrial machinery, disrupting traffic, harming vegetation and deteriorating air quality [1,2,3,4,5]
High dust loading in the air due to the dust storms could impact the solar radiation balance, cloud formation, secondary pollutant generation and marine primary productivity, which has a complex influence on the ecosystem [6,7,8]
Kai et al [16] studied the structure of dust layer over Taklimakan desert in April 2002 by Micro Pulse Lidar (MPL)
Summary
Dust storms are a disastrous natural phenomenon, which can cause serious damage to human habitats, including breaking down industrial machinery, disrupting traffic, harming vegetation and deteriorating air quality [1,2,3,4,5]. The quantitative monitoring of dust storms is of great significance for disaster prevention, environmental protection and sustainable development. Satellite remote sensing and Micro Pulse Lidar (MPL) technologies have been commonly used for monitoring dust storms [11,12,13,14]. Satellite remote sensing technology, which can monitor the coverage and transport routes of dust storms, but it is not able to extract such data as specific vertical structure of dust storm, sand content in the air and sand-dust particle concentrations [17,18,19]. The MPL technology can observe the vertical structure, composition and optical properties of sand-dust aerosols in real-time. Owing to the low transmitted power, MPL cannot penetrate the entire profile of strong dust storms [20]
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